Beer & Biotech at RoVa Labs

The Two Blind Spots That Sink MedTech Startups

Join us September 16 (4:30–6:30 PM) at RoVa Labs for the next Beer & Biotech, featuring Robert Turner and Harsh Sanghavi from Carilion Clinic's Usability Works, Ross Mason from Carilion Clinic Innovation, and Sara Smith from Qlutch.

Most medtech startups get tripped up by the same two things. Human factors work often gets treated as a late-stage test instead of an ongoing process, letting user, regulatory, clinical, and commercial risk stay hidden until they're expensive to fix. Compliance systems tend to lag too, with documentation, workflows, and QMS tooling often left unbuilt until it's time to prove compliance, and by then it's a scramble.

Tune in as Carilion Clinic's Usability Works team opens with a quick look at how medtech innovators can de-risk their products early through human factors. Then Carilion Clinic Innovation and Qlutch follow with how to de-risk the regulatory compliance side with QMS designed to be accessible to early stage medtech startups.

Presented by Freedom First Credit Union

Beer & Biotech takes place on the third Wednesday of each month. Come enjoy light refreshments and great conversation in the NEW Roanoke Biotech Hub, RoVa Labs, in downtown Roanoke. Enjoy networking from 4:30 to 5:15p and the speakers will begin at 5:15p.

Free parking is available on-site. 

Speaker Spotlight

Robert Turner, Ph.D. is the Managing Director of Usability Works, a usability engineering consultancy embedded within Carilion Clinic’s Center for Simulation, Research and Patient Safety in Roanoke, Virginia. He works with MedTech innovators, particularly early-stage companies, to integrate clinician insight, simulation, and risk-based usability engineering into product development. With nearly a decade in the medical device industry and consulting, Robert helps teams translate clinical workflows into design requirements that de-risk development while streamlining and accelerating innovation.


Harsh Sanghavi, Usability Works, Carilion Clinic: Harsh received his MS in industrial and systems engineering from Virginia Tech, with a focus on human factors engineering and ergonomics. While at Virginia Tech, he worked at the Mind, Music, and Machine Lab to help evaluate the usability and the user experience of in-vehicle user interfaces in automated vehicles. His research interests have allowed him to work on automated vehicles, user interface design, affect, human-computer interaction, computer-supported collaborative work and human-centered design. 

Harsh's work with the team involves conducting usability studies on products, software and systems used by Carilion Clinic; ethnographic observations of healthcare workers; and using human factors principles to improve processes, patient safety and the quality of care. He also specializes in performance and aesthetics.

Sara Smith, Qlutch QMS 

Ross Mason, Carilion Clinic Innovation